Italian tennis player Roberta Vinci celebrates after beating Czech player Lucie Safarova in their Fed Cup semi-final match in Palermo, Italy, yesterday. (EPA)

Reuters/Palermo, Italy

Roberta Vinci sent Italy into the Fed Cup final for the fifth time in eight years with a 6-2 6-7 6-3 victory over Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova in Palermo yesterday.
The match was held over because of rain on Sunday.
Vinci’s triumph gave Italy, winners of the trophy in 2009 and 2010, an unassailable 3-1 lead over the twice defending champions, meaning the doubles was not played.
Russia await in the final after they stormed back from 2-0 down to beat Slovakia 3-2 in Moscow on Sunday.
Italy went 2-0 up on Saturday before Petra Kvitova gave the Czechs hope on Sunday by beating Sara Errani in front of a partisan crowd at the Circolo Tennis Palermo.
Vinci, 30, had too much guile for Safarova in the first set although the Czech found her feet in the second to lead 5-3.
The Italian broke back and served for the match at 6-5 but faltered and was brushed aside in the tiebreak by an inspired Safarova.
In the decider Vinci gave up a 2-0 lead but then broke serve to lead 5-3 and even though she failed to convert her first two match points she made no mistake on the third.
“It’s an incredible moment for me,” said Vinci after being doused with water by her joyful teammates.
“I was nervous and a bit tired. I’ve played Fed Cup for a long time and it will be great to play Russia in front of these fans in the final.”
Italy will have home advantage against Russia, the team they were beaten by in the 2007 final.
“Roberta was unbelievable today,” said captain Corrado Barazzuti. “I was a bit worried in the third set because Roberta was 2-0 up and then it became a very difficult match.”
Williams sisters lead US to 3-2 win over Sweden

Serena and Venus Williams delivered singles victories Sunday to lift the US to a 3-2 Fed Cup playoff victory over Sweden that will keep America in the elite World Group.
Venus Williams persevered to deliver the clinching point, sealing a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Johanna Larsson on her eighth match point.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion had been rolling toward the win, serving for the match and the tie at 5-4 in the second set when she delivered three double faults to drop her serve.
She immediately broke back to take a 6-5 lead, but had to claw through a 12th game that went to deuce nine times.
“She started lifting her game, but thanks to all the support here I was able to give it to the US,” said Williams, who had seven of her 11 double faults in the second set but hung on to give the US an unbeatable 3-1 lead.
The Americans then opted out of the meaningless doubles, giving Sweden a walkover win and making the final score of the tie 3-2.
Venus was given singles duty at the last minute by US captain Mary Joe Fernandez, who apparently felt that 20-year-old Sloane Stephens hadn’t bounced back adequately from her error-strewn 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 loss to Sofia Arvidsson in the opening match of the tie on Saturday.
World number one Serena Williams had put the Americans back on track Saturday with a win over Larsson, and she put the 17-time champion US up 2-1 with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win over Arvidsson on Sunday.
Serena fired 10 aces and broke Arvidsson twice in each set en route to the victory.
Serving to extend the first set, Arvidsson double-faulted to give Williams a break point, then netted a backhand to surrender the frame.